Movie Review: "Water Boys"

The Beginning of the Movie: A New Dream for the Perpetual Loser

The movie starts with the story of Suzuki, a member of the swimming club at an all-boys high school. Suzuki is the only member of the swimming team at his school, but he has no great talent for swimming, consistently finishing last in every competition he enters. After another disappointing performance in a tournament, Suzuki returns to the pool where he witnesses a synchronized swimming performance by female athletes. Mesmerized by their graceful performance, Suzuki becomes captivated by synchronized swimming for the first time.

Soon after, a beautiful new teacher arrives at Suzuki's school. She reveals that she has a swimming background and will take over the swimming club. However, when Suzuki visits the pool the next day, he is astonished to find that many students have joined the club, hoping to get closer to the beautiful teacher. As the boys practice swimming, they ask the teacher to demonstrate her skills, but she seems to be hiding something. Under continued pressure from the boys, she eventually shows them a videotape (this was back in the days of VHS tapes) of a synchronized swimming performance—the same one Suzuki had seen previously. The teacher, it turns out, was a former synchronized swimmer and wants to teach the boys synchronized swimming. After watching the tape, most of the boys run away, leaving only five, including Suzuki, who stay in the swimming club. Thus, the five boys unintentionally find themselves learning synchronized swimming. However, before they even get started, the teacher goes on maternity leave, leaving the boys on their own.

With no guidance and facing the threat of losing their pool to a man who releases fish into it for fishing, the boys are given a challenge: if they catch all the fish, they can keep the pool. One of the students comes up with the idea of draining the pool to catch the fish, and they work through the night, draining the pool and catching the fish. However, they are caught by the school security guard and summoned to their homeroom teacher. The boys, unaware of the significant cost of refilling the pool, hastily promise that they will perform a synchronized swimming show and sell tickets to cover the expenses. They begin selling tickets but, unsurprisingly, find it difficult to sell them for a synchronized swimming performance by high school boys. They try their best to promote the event and eventually sell all the tickets to a group of middle-aged women. With the ticket sales, they manage to refill the pool.

Despite their best efforts, their performance in front of the teacher is a disaster, with accidents such as setting their hair on fire and many mistakes throughout. The teacher, disappointed, considers shutting down the swimming club.

Movie : Water Boys

Passion and Effort Toward a Dream

Meanwhile, Suzuki goes to see a dolphin show with a girl he met at cram school. Inspired by the dolphins' performance, Suzuki convinces the other four boys to visit a dolphin trainer. The boys beg the trainer to teach them how to perform synchronized swimming like dolphins. The trainer, seeing an opportunity to make them clean the dolphin tank, agrees. After days of cleaning, the boys ask the trainer to finally teach them, and reluctantly, he agrees, teaching them basic moves by imitating animals. Through this unusual method, the boys start to get the hang of synchronized swimming.

One day, while training at the beach, they are mistaken for drowning victims by onlookers. The rescue team arrives, and the incident is broadcast on the news, catapulting the boys to instant fame. This newfound attention draws back the students who had initially left the club, and they too want to learn synchronized swimming.

The boys then train together to prepare for their big synchronized swimming performance at the school festival. However, Suzuki, unable to tell the girl he likes about the performance, finds himself embarrassed. On the night before the performance, a fire breaks out at the school, and the pool's water is used to extinguish the flames, leaving the boys devastated. All their hard work and effort seem to have gone to waste. Just then, a representative from a nearby girls' school offers them the use of their pool, and the boys happily accept.

However, when Suzuki arrives at the girls' school, he realizes it’s the same school where the girl he likes studies, and she is among the audience. Overcome with embarrassment, Suzuki feels he cannot perform.

Finale: The Synchronized Swimming Performance Begins

Despite Suzuki's hesitation, the performance begins without him. As Suzuki sits alone, the dolphin trainer finds him and offers some words of encouragement.

Eventually, Suzuki overcomes his embarrassment and joins the performance, confidently singing and dancing in front of the girl he likes. He finally starts to genuinely enjoy synchronized swimming.

In the grand finale, Suzuki is supposed to climb on top of a human pyramid formed by his teammates, but his swimsuit accidentally slips off during the performance. In that critical moment, the girl he likes hands him the swimsuit she had prepared as a gift, allowing him to finish the performance triumphantly. She had known all along that he was performing and had prepared the gift for him.

The performance ends successfully, and the movie concludes.

Review

As I understand, this film is based on the true story of a synchronized swimming club at an all-boys high school in Japan. It was a huge success in Japan and later even adapted into a TV drama. While the film follows a typical and somewhat predictable storyline common in Japanese movies, it humorously portrays the boys' challenge, and although some parts feel clumsy or mismatched, the final performance scene was well-executed with various fun concepts. Overall, it was an enjoyable movie. If you're looking for something lighthearted, it's worth a watch. I think I'll revisit it myself, especially to see that final performance again.